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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28607121">Vigilante (not final)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatdamplutodaughter/pseuds/thatdamplutodaughter'>thatdamplutodaughter</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Arrow (TV 2012)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Other</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 08:33:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,425</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28607121</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatdamplutodaughter/pseuds/thatdamplutodaughter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>read the prologue to find out<br/>lol this is just so i can have this on my phone</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Prologue:<br/>
Death. What is death? Some will tell you that death is the next great adventure, or that death is the next step. Death is part of life. The two main points of one’s life are birth and death, which are inevitable. Everything that happens in between can change but birth and death are always present. But does life truly end at death, or is there something bigger, something greater after it? Afterlife they call it. Some people believe in reincarnation, or rebirth. Others believe in Heaven and Hell.<br/>
What do I think of death you ask? I think death and life are not divided, they are one. I think that death is maybe the end of what we are, the end of our body. There is a battle between the living, the known, and death, the unknown. Will we someday know death the same way we know living? Death is a blur, something unknown. It sneaks up on people. You can’t know with certainty when it will occur. And maybe it’s what gives life its beauty. Not knowing when it will end. Carpe diem they say. Live the life like there’s no tomorrow and all those quotes they put up in car advertisements.<br/>
People fear death. They fear what they don’t understand and what they can’t control. Death is not something you can control. To quote the movie Hamilton “You have no control, who lives, who dies, who tells your story.” It’s true. Death is uncontrollable. It is out of reach, out of bounds. And yet, we’re still living. Another quote from Hamilton that fits here “death doesn’t discriminate, between the sinners and the saints, it takes and it takes and it takes and we keep living anyway”. We are still living. We still laugh. We still cry. We forever have an impact on things, even dead. Even after you die and you’re long forgotten, you’re still someway here. That tree that you planted or the one you killed. That candy wrap that you threw out of your window or the one you picked up on the sidewalk. Death is maybe the end of your body. That body of yours that was one polluting the earth is now feeding it. It becomes soil.<br/>
Some people on the other hand do not fear death. The fear of death follows the fear of life. A person who lives fully is prepared to die at any time. Being undead doesn’t mean you’re living. Being alive is different from living.<br/>
Can we someday know death the same way we know life? That would mean to know something the mind has been denying our whole lives. In order to achieve that, we have to forget everything our mind knows about living and life. We have to forget everything so that we can learn it all from the beginning, this time learning about death. It doesn’t make sense, does it?<br/>
What about people who came back from the dead? Or people who nearly died and claimed to have seen the next stage of life? People claiming that “they left their bodies and were able to look down at their bodies with the doctors trying to bring them back to life”. A little girl who was diagnosed with a chronic digestive disease at the age of 4 got into an accident and fell from a 30 feet tree, into the tree. She claims that she sat in Jesus’s lap, and he told her that once the firefighters who were trying to rescue her got her out, there will be nothing wrong with her. The girl then asked if she could stay with him and Jesus said “No, I have plans you need to fulfill on Earth that you cannot fulfill in Heaven”. The girl was rescued and she was healed from her disease.<br/>
A lot of people have claimed to see a glimpse of what you call “Heaven”. To have felt “warmth and love”. But are we sure that someone actually came back from the dead? That they died, went to Heaven (or Hell) and then came back to life? I don’t think so. Except for God himself or whatever.<br/>
I’m going to introduce you to someone who came back from the dead. No, they didn’t fall from heaven, they crawled their way up from Hell. You know all those tales they tell you about Hell? The lava and the heat and the monsters? Well, it’s much, much worse. I would know, I was there. but I came back. How you ask? Tasrin, one of the devils and also my lover, convinced everyone to give me a second chance on earth. That’s how I got my stupid redemption arc. Not that I wanted to. I loved staying down there with Tasrin, chilling for eternity. Oh well. They want me to fight evil now or whatever. Who better to fight villains than a villain herself?<br/>
Life is time, and death, well, it’s going out of time.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“You’re going up there! said Tasrin.<br/>-I DON’T WANT TO! I WANT TO STAY HERE WITH YOU.<br/>-No. The decision is already made, you are going.<br/>-I SAID I DON’T WANT TO! WHY DO YOU INSIST SO MUCH ON HAVING ME GO BACK UP THERE?!<br/>-It’s called a redemption arc, she said, so you’re gonna go back there and show everyone that you’ve changed.<br/>-I don’t want to change!! I’m happy here. What happened that you suddenly want me out of here?<br/>-You’re going. End of discussion.<br/>-I DON’T WANT TO. WHY DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?<br/>-I SAID YOU’RE GOING, she yelled. YOU’RE GOING BECAUSE OTHERWISE, THEY’RE GONNA PUT YOU IN THE FIELDS OF PUNISHMENT. I CAN’T PROTECT YOU ANYMORE.”<br/>After our fight, I stormed out from our chambers and fell asleep next to an Underworld tree. When I woke up, I was sitting in an alley, the city unfolding before me, and a dead end at my back. A new beginning forward, and all my previous mistakes behind me. <br/>Our fight is the last thing I remember. I feel bad as to have left her on bad terms. After all, she is the love of my life. I stand up from the floor and make my way slowly onto the sidewalk. Big buildings surround me and cars speed on the road. Sure, I was from an older time, but I was still pretty updated on the new technologies and inventions. I look around me and notice a ton of people walking and chatting, going to their everyday activities. They’re all dressed differently, some in skirts and blazers, some in suits, some in sweats. I look down to what I am wearing. Brown overalls, with a white shirt underneath. Some combat boots at my feet, and a brown satchel hangs loosely at my waist. My hair is wavy and also brown. Hmm, I like this look. It’s very different from my true form but it would be suspicious to walk around in my antique clothes and hairstyle. <br/>I decide it’s time to move, my plan being to find some people like me, some vigilantes and just tag along with them. Creating my own team would take much more time and I’m too lazy to do so. I turn right, and start walking forward. That’s when I slam hard in a metal lamppost. <br/>Do you know that moment when you slam into something and you feel your ears ringing for a second and you feel as if you became deaf for a bit? That’s kind of what I felt, except that instead of the usual ringing, I heard someone scream.<br/>LOOK IN YOUR SATCHEL.<br/>When I stop seeing stars, I look in my satchel. The first thing I notice is a medium sized box. I take it out and open it carefully. Oh no. Oh hell no. Please don’t be what I fear you are. But of course, with my luck, it is indeed a pair of glasses. I stomp hard and scream at the floor: “DAMN YOU TASRIN”. I take the glasses in my hands. They’re actually gorgeous. Delicate, but strong somehow. Octagonal shaped glasses with a silver contour. I put them on and everything falls into place. Wow. I never saw the world like this before. Is it because I’m half blind? Or whatever mortals call it? Damn it feels good. <br/>I find some other stuff in the satchel but decide I should make a plan to find a team before I explore the hidden secrets of my mighty bag. I walk around the city for a while, until I notice a very dark alley on the other side of the road. I cross the road, getting some mean glances and words that I would rather not cite here. The alley ends in a cul-de-sac, where I choose to sit in order to plot. <br/>I empty the remains of my satchel on the floor. A flashlight, a keychain with some keys, an empty notebook, a grey eye mask, a cordial hatched on a belt, a grey leather vest with a weird symbol under the neckline and the empty glasses box fall on the stone floor.<br/>I pick up the flashlight first. It’s basic, a metal base with a transparent cap to let the light out. I turn it on, and it changes into a sword. A light, well balanced sword. A black handle and a lion head. I try it out for a minute and realize how good it suits me. I pull the switch on the handle and it retransforms into a flashlight. <br/>I inspect the keys. One of them is a door key and another one is a vehicle key. I open the notebook and notice a little piece of parchment with two addresses on it. The first address is within a 5 minutes walking distance from where I am. I decide to go there first. I put my stuff back in the satchel and head to the address, two streets down.<br/>The address is the name of a street, and nothing on the street really stands out. Some shops are aligned on each side of the road and some cars are parked. I walk around, not really knowing what I’m looking for. Hold on. I take the vehicle keys and push the unlock button. Nothing. I lock it again. Nothing. I unlock one more time and notice a flickering light on the left. A motorbike. More specifically, a black matte Ducati Diavel with grey accents. I hop on it and put on the black helmet. As I get on, it automatically starts, having received a signal from the key and the engine revs.<br/>I speed on the road, mind racing. Damn, this redemption arc might not be a bad idea actually. <br/>I stop the engine and stay on it. I think of my next move. The only way to get the attention of the vigilantes was to provoke outrage, take a hostage or steal something. But how am I going to know what to steal. It has to be big enough to catch their attention, but not big enough to attract the eyes of the police or something. I look around me. A coffee shop. No. A tattoo parlor. Not my type. A bank. Too basic. That’s when I see it. A beauty salon. The best way to kill time and hairdressers can’t control their tongues. <br/>I hop off my motorbike and head to the salon. I open the door and enter. I find a wallet in my back pocket. I ask the hairdresser what takes the most time, because I have at least 10 hours to kill. She says that hair dyeing takes around 3 to 4 hours. Perfect. I sit on one of the chairs and she gives me a catalogue to choose from. I browse it for a while, not really finding something that speaks to me. I stumble across a gorgeous silver color. I ask the hairdresser if she can do that. <br/>“Sure, she says, would you like it to be ombre or one solid color?<br/>-Ombre… whatever that is.<br/>-Alright. We’re gonna bleach your hair first, to make it platinum so that the color catches on.”<br/>I nod slowly. She calls someone to help her and they start working on bleaching my hair. I close my eyes, feeling Tasrin’s connection. We’ve always been able to communicate by thoughts. I hear her voice in my head saying that I should try to find something to steal to find a team. She says that the door key is a house key. She explains that the sword is magic. You fight with it normally and it hurts the other person but never kills. I apologize for the fight and tell her I love her, right before I focus on the hairdressers. <br/>They are talking about some guy that is running for senate or some other stupid stuff. One of them accidently slips the fact that she knows a gang from town, and that apparently they are planning to help some of their buddies to get out of jail. A juvie truck is supposed to transport them from one center to the other. Rumor has it that the gang is going to strike then. Well, not on my watch. And plus, I’m pretty sure this will catch the vigilante’s attention, considering there are vigilantes in this town.<br/>That was all I needed to know in order to plan my attack tonight. I let my mind wander while the girls finish bleaching my hair, rinsing it and start dyeing it. After six long hours of sitting in a chair, my hair was done. Apparently, they had to bleach it twice because it didn’t become platinum from the first time. Not that I cared. From the middle down, my wavy hair is silver, some streaks lighter and some darker. It is truly magnificent. I love it.<br/>I pay and leave the salon. I hop on my bike and speed around the city, in search of some place to eat. I finally find a small restaurant and order a burger. As I eat, I replay my plan silently in my head, ready for the moment of adrenaline. <br/>When the clock strikes 11:15, I’m standing in front of the truck. Three cops get out of the truck and circle me. Another one stays in the truck. <br/>“I’m going to kindly ask you to move away, says one of them.<br/>-No need for that sir, I won’t.”<br/>With that, I punch him in the face.</p>
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